


eight times the charm

by zhuzhting



Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Birthday, Fluff, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 16:13:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15732924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhuzhting/pseuds/zhuzhting
Summary: Each member of NIne Percent says "happy birthday" differently but Xukun appreciates them all the same.or, xukun celebrates his first birthday with nine percent





	eight times the charm

Zhangjing is silent in the way he does things.

Xukun stretches up as he enters the kitchen, not surprised to see Zhangjing already there, a muffin in one hand and another curled around a steaming mug. He sidles up to Xukun, unostentatious like how Zhengjing always is and he smiles.

“Happy birthday.” He says, stretching the muffin out to him.

Xukun blinks at the offered food then back at Zhengjing, sleep still somewhat clouding his mind. When he does clear his senses, Zhangjing is still smiling patiently at him, hand still outstretched. “Thank you.” He says, soft, quiet.

They sit and share the muffin, all silent giggles and funny anecdotes.

\---

There was something about Yanjun that made people forget that he was one of the eldest members of the group. He was playful and mischievous, goading smirks and raised eyebrows, entirely too childish when he wanted to be.

Xukun used to think they were very different, in that Xukun had to grow up too fast while Yanjun didn’t seem to grow up at all. But there was a lot more to Yanjun than he thought, he realized. Yanjun who cared for others quietly and was a lot more thoughtful and perceptive than people gave him credit for.

“Happy birthday,” Yanjun says, dropping something into Xukun’s lap and ruffling his hair.

He winks as he walks away and Xukun hears his chuckles long after he’s gone.

Xukun thumbs at the flash drive and smiles.

\---

Linkai is someone who’s always been carefree. Uncaring of other people’s opinions and Xukun admired how he held himself.

Another thing about Linkai was that he cared about his friends. A lot. And he never failed to show it.

He’s greeted by a loud whoop and Linkai suddenly had an arm slung around his shoulder, pulling him down to his height. “You’re twenty now.” Linkai says, grinning widely. “This day is special.”

“Here.” Linkai thrusts a box into his hands. “It’s not much, but it reminded me of you.”

Xukun raises a brow at him and Linkai grins at him expectantly. Inside the box is a long black cord, hanging from it a silver shark. Xukun looks back at Linkai who mimes an inflating suit, cheeks puffed, arms growing wide around him.

“Thank you.”

Linkai wiggles his eyebrows. “Don’t mention it, Sharky.”

They walk to lunch with their heads bent towards each other and their laughter echoing behind them.

\---

Ziyi has all the grandeur of a person born into money, all wrapped up with a pretty hip hop bow so to say.

The flowers are one thing, a large bouquet that is much too large for Xukun to grasp with just one hand. Even holding it meant he couldn’t see Ziyi’s face anymore as he spoke. “It’s your special day.” Ziyi says, and Xukun barely hears him through the foliage. “You deserve to be treated like a king on this day, bro.”

Xukun tries to speak but he ends up with a flower in his mouth instead, so he resigns to putting the bouquet down to the side.

“Thank you, Ziyi.” He spits a petal out.

“I didn’t know what to get you.” Ziyi admits and his brows furrow worriedly.

Xukun looks at the pile of roses on the ground and smiles at the thought put behind them. “This is-”

“So I got you this iPhone but I didn’t know what color you liked so I just got one where they engrave your name on it.”

Xukun blinks. “What.”

Ziyi doesn’t stop talking, having already deposited the phone into Xukun’s hands, he digs into the paper bag he’s holding. “I also got you this watch.” He places another box in Xukun’s hands.

“And this wallet.” Another box.

“And this gold bar.”

“Wait.” Xukun balances the boxes in his arms, lifts his knee up to stop Ziyi from propping another expensive item into his arms. “Bro, stop.”

“What?” And there’s this big wide eyed look on Ziyi’s face that kind of makes Xukun feel like he just kicked a puppy.

A panicked sound escapes Xukun’s mouth when Ziyi’s mouth turns down into a pout. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate all these gifts.” Xukun says, motioning at the stack of items in his hand. “But this is a bit too much.”

“Is it?” Ziyi looks at the pile of things, the flowers bundled up on the ground, and he looks back up at Xukun with the confusion only a rich man who has too much money to spend can muster.

“Yeah.” Xukun says, nodding. “It’s a lot.”

“I’m sorry.” And there was the kicked puppy again.

Xukun lowers the stuff onto a table nearby, pats Ziyi on the back, comforting. “It’s okay.” Xukun says. “But I’d much rather just hang out with everyone and have a good time.”

Ziyi looks up again, smiling. “I can do that.”

Xukun returns the smile, shaking his head at the absurdity of it all. “Let’s go then.”

\---

Xukun spots the small stuffed animal on his table and furrows his eyebrows in wonder.

It wasn’t the first animal he’s gotten today. As soon as he had woken up, he had seen a stuffed bear on his night stand, smiling at him and looking at him with big black button eyes. When he and Linkai had joined the others for lunch, there was a stuffed dog in front of his plate, brown with floppy ears, and a tongue lolling out of its mouth.

And now, here, on the table in his room, was a cat, staring up at him with cartoonish big eyes.

“Xukun, we’re going to go out to eat, do you want to come?” Linong pops his head past the door, eyes growing just a tiny bit wide when he sees the cat in Xukun’s hand, but he quickly puts a wide smile on his face. “That’s a cute cat.”

It’s then that it clicks.

“Yeah,” Xukun says, eyes narrowing accusingly. “Thank you for the animals.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Linong smiles, stepping past the door fully and still donning that wide innocent smile of his that tells Xukun that he was anything but innocent, because Linong could be cunning when he wanted to be.

Xukun raises a brow. “Why are you giving me an entire zoo?”

“I’m not giving you anything.” The crow’s feet at the corners of his eyes were very suspicious. “It’s time for second lunch.” He says, sliding his body back out the door slowly. “We’ll wait for you downstairs.”

“Oh, and,” Linong pops his head back into the room, “happy birthday, Xukun.”

He gets five more animals in total that day and he keeps them all beside his bed.

\---

Justin and Chengcheng always came in a pair. One was always followed soon by another.

Justin was loud and mischievous, like a child that was way too smart but liked acting way too dumb. Chengcheng was someone who tried to act mature and Xukun sees a boy who was forced to grow up way too fast and it reminds him almost too much of himself. But when he was comfortable, Chengcheng was as much as a child as Justin was and it was something Justin especially brought out of him.

Together, they had the thinking capacity of a seven-year-old.

So it’s not a surprise to Xukun when they corner him together.

“It’s your birthday.” Justin says, and his eyebrows are furrowed together like he’s thinking really hard about the concept of people turning a year older in one day.

Xukun nods, unsure where to even start with the two. Without Zhengting, the two were way too volatile for anyone to handle. “Yeah it is.”

“You’re older now.” Chengcheng adds.

“I am.”

“Here’s our gift.” Justin shoves a small box into his hands. “It’s not much.”

Xukun looks down at the box, then up at the two who are looking at him expectantly, then back down. With a little fear that he will never admit to feeling, he opens it.

Inside is a silver chain, obviously meant to go around his wrist. It was simple, not flashy, just the way he liked things.

“Thank you.” Xukun says, unable to keep the grin off his face.

“We have the same ones.” Chengcheng says, and they both raise their wrists, showing off their matching silver chains. “Only we have them.”

Xukun swears the twinge he feels in his heart was just heart burn.

“I-”

“You love us, we know.” Justin rolls his eyes and suddenly Xukun isn’t as touched as he was. “We love you too blabla. Now put it on.”

The next five minutes are spent with Justin and Chengcheng fumbling with the chain, trying to get it around Xukun’s wrist.

\---

Zhengting was about as subtle as a Disneyland parade. Zhengting was never one who could hide his feelings and thoughts and it was something that Xukun loved, the easy openness that Xukun didn’t have. But this also meant he was bad at keeping secrets so he did what he probably thought was best, he ran. He had been avoiding Xukun since the morning, sidestepping him whenever he went too close, ducking under his arm when he had tried to hug him, and running away as soon as he caught sight of Xukun.

Xukun thought it was as cute as much as it was frustrating.

So when he finally gets back to the dorms, late, much too late, to see the only light on being that in the kitchen he knows it’s Zhengting before he even nears it.

Zhengting sits with his elbows on the table and his head propped in his hands, asleep. Xukun vaguely wonders how he can manage to balance himself like that, but Zhengting always had the best balance out of everyone in the group.

In front of him is a cake that was the size of a dinner plate. An almost scary neon pink color and obnoxiously covered in sprinkle hearts. “Happy Birthday Kunkun” was scrolled on it with clumsily with shit colored icing.

There was pink icing smeared on Zhengting’s cheek and flour in his hair, and Xukun is way too endeared for it to be healthy.

Carefully, he reaches over to shake Zhengting’s shoulder, which in hindsight probably wasn’t a good idea, especially since this jolts Zhengting awake and has him dropping his heavy head right onto the table.

“Are you okay?”

“Ow.” Zhengting rubs his chin which was starting to turn red. “That hurt.”

“Yeah. It probably did.” Xukun laughs, reaching over to tilt Zhengting’s chin up, surveying where it was turning as pink as the cake. “You’ll live.”

“You’re back.” Zhengting’s eyes widen, as if just realizing, eyes darting down to the cake. “I baked you a cake.”

“I could tell.” Xukun swipes his thumb against Zhengting’s cheek, sticking the digit into his mouth. “It’s sweet.”

“It’s a cake.” Zhengting says flatly, but there’s a flush high on his cheeks. “What cake isn’t sweet.”

“You’re right.” Xukun acquiesces. “But yours is sweeter.”

Zhengting averts his eyes, pushes the cake towards Xukun, hands so fast they almost push the cake entirely off the table. “Happy birthday.” He mumbles out.

“Is this why you’ve been avoiding me the whole day?”

If anything, Zhengting only turns redder, Xukun thinks he might pass out. “It was hard finding the time to get the materials and make the cake without you noticing.” He admits, face almost completely parallel with the table by now.

Xukun lets out an amused laugh. He holds Zhengting by the chin, tilts his head up again, so he can see him in all his flustered glory. “Thank you.”

“It’s not like it was hard to bake the cake.” Zhengting pouts anyways, nose upturned, huffing. “It was easier than I thought.”

“We’ll eat it for breakfast tomorrow.” Xukun says, placing the radioactive cake in the refrigerator. “How about that?”

“We can share it with the others.” Zhengting smiles, and Xukun is glad that he’s not the only one that’s getting poisoned. “We should clean up.”

“Join me in the shower?” Xukun wiggles his eyebrows and Zhengting makes an affronted face despite accepting the hand offered to him.

“Happy birthday, Xukun.” Zhengting says again, shyly leaning forward to kiss Xukun on the nose.

Xukun thinks he might die by the time he reaches thirty with the way his heart beats way too fast in his chest. “You’re too much for me Zhu Zhengting.” He says instead and he laughs at the way this makes Zhengting look like a kicked child.

“Thank you.” Xukun says and he knows he has much more to say, but this is enough for now and he presses his smile against Zhengting’s lips.

The next morning, he finds three failed cakes hiding in the garbage and Zhengting refuses to look at him in the face for the whole day.

**Author's Note:**

> OK YES I KNOW XUKUN'S BIRTHDAY WAS ALMOST THREE WEEKS AGO but think about it this way, i made chengcheng kill his dad for his birthday last time so this could've been so much worse. 
> 
> SO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY XUKUN
> 
> be friends with [me](https://twitter.com/zhuzhting)


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